


A Crown of Violets

by dreamwithinadream1010 (NacreHeart29)



Category: No Fandom
Genre: :), And that shot of the guy with flowers? Super cool, BSing Stuff, Because I watched a video essay on TXT's Eternally and wrote this mess, Dream Sequence, Gen, Language of Flowers, Look it was super cool okay, Memory Sequence, Oh so that's not a tag, Painting, Purple Prose, Well - Freeform, Why you ask?, kind of, more like paint but whatever, txt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27887596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NacreHeart29/pseuds/dreamwithinadream1010
Summary: It's raining.He walks through the dim street, face bowed, staring at the ripples left by the raindrops. People brush by him, caught in their own little bubbles. Kai looks up for a moment at the streetlight. It's strangely blurred.And then everyone disappears.
Kudos: 1





	A Crown of Violets

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so I watched mera's video essay on TXT's Eternally, got a flash of inspiration, and wrote this. The essay is linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IIek-W4NJY
> 
> Warning: depictions of bodies, mentions of bones, mentions of body mutilation, apocalypse scenario. If you are okay with watching Eternally you should be fine here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> -Jay

It's raining, Kai notes as he steps out of the bus. It's raining and the sky is a stormy shade of grey and Kai suddenly hates the day a bit more than he did before.

He sighs. Tugs his hood over his head and starts the long, dreary walk back to his apartment building. Raindrops create ripples in the puddles on the street. It's sort of hypnotizing. People brush by him, each caught in their own little bubbles. Kai looks up for a moment at the streetlight, drawn to the golden glow. Somehow, it seems blurry. Must be the rain.

And then the world around him swirls, spins, blurs, and vanishes.

Kai screams.

It's not something he's very proud of, but he screams as everything disappears and is replaced by gold.

Gold?

Gold. Golden light, blurred like the street light surrounds him. Kai stands hesitantly, brushing himself off. His coat is no longer wet, he notes. Where is he?

Wherever he is, it seems nice. Soft piano plays in the background. Child's laughter echoes throughout the space and the comforting smell of home-baked cookies wafts around him. Kai steps forwards through the light and feels it swirl around him, like silk. He reaches out and runs his hands through the light. It parts around his fingers, like water. 

"Hi, mister!"

Kai starts, whips around. A child is standing there, toy car clutched in her hands and dressed in a bright blue dress and wearing a tiara. Despite the strangeness of this situation, he can't help but smile, kneeling down.

"Hello," he says. "Who are you?"

"I'm Maddie!" she says, beaming. "Who are you?"

"Kai," he says.

"Kai," Maddie repeats, tilting her head adorably. "Kai, Kai, Kai. Cool! You wanna come with me? We're having a party!"

A party.

"I'd love to," he says. "Is it a special occasion?"

"It's my birthday, silly!" Maddie giggles. "All my friends are here! And my mom baked me my favourite cake! It's chocolate and it's really yummy. You should try some!"

A birthday party, Kai thinks ruefully. Maddie is so happy and alive. He's almost envious, but at the same time he's glad.

"I will," he promises as she leads him through the light. It folds, ripples around him, gradually becoming translucent. He feels like he's walking underwater, almost. Maddie's hand is warm in his as she leads him forwards. The light curls around him, a final caress, and slips away.

"This way!" Maddie says, beaming, and pulls him towards a group of people clustered around a table. "See, those are my friends! That's Emily, and that's Sophia, and that's Carson - he's a little shy - and oh! That's Riley!" Her voice drops to a stage whisper. "Don't tell her I said this, but she's really really cute!"

Kai has to resist the urge to coo. "Your friends seem nice," he says instead. Maddie's voice is becoming softer and - is he moving away? 

"They are," Maddie says and her eyes soften. Kai can imagine it, can envision the person she would eventually grow to be. He hopes she never loses her kindness, the kindness that led her to offer a complete stranger birthday cake. "Hi, guys! This is Kai!"

"Hi," Kai wants to say but his voice doesn't come out the way it should and he's falling, tumbling through a world of darkness. His ears ring and his vision blurs and he's falling, further and further and further.

He lands on a hard, rough surface, probably bruising his tailbone in the process. Kai rubs at his forehead and stands up. "Where am I?" he asks out loud. The words echo off into the distance, like they're mocking him. Where am I? Where am I?

He's surrounded by rock, a prison of concrete and gravel. The tunnel stretches out into the depths, lit by a faintly glowing lantern. Kai reaches up and plucks the lantern off the wall, staring at the yawning mouth before him.

He’s never been good with small spaces, but this just feels even worse. At least before small spaces were properly lit.

He didn’t even get to try Maddie’s birthday cake, Kai realizes, and that’s somehow what hurts the most. But there doesn’t appear to be a way out but forwards, so Kai presses a hand against the wall and starts walking.

The lantern provides a (rather dim) source of light as Kai inches down the tunnel. The silence makes it even more terrifying somehow, but his throat feels like it’s closed up and he can’t speak. It’s visibly abandoned, what looks like shovels and pickaxes littering the sides and boxes clustered in the middle. Kai catches a glimpse of what looks like a human bone.

Yep, he’s getting out of here as quickly as physically possible.

It could be just a regular mining tunnel that collapsed, he reasons, purposefully keeping his breaths steady so he doesn’t start hyperventilating.

What if there’s no way out? his brain says, panicking. What if you stay trapped down here and steadily asphyxiate to death forever wandering this dark rocky tunnel? What if you never see your old neighbour Gertrude who really loves to tell epic tales about fantasy wars? What if you -

Or, he reasons, it could be a tunnel where someone died and there’s totally a way out. Right. 

He’s not going to think about other possibilities right now,

Just as his lantern starts flickering out, Kai spots a light in the distance. Relief fills him and he just about collapses. He doesn’t think he could handle seeing more bones. Kai breaks into a run, feet thumping on the rock past more boxes, what looks like a broken cart, and something that vaguely resembles rust. Finally, finally, he makes it to the surface and takes a gulp of fresh, non-tunnel air and -

Dust.

He tastes dust and iron on his tongue and finally Kai’s brain catches up to his eyes.

It’s a wasteland.

The ground is ashen, covered in dust. The air is a vaguely nauseating tan and the sky is grey. What Kai assumes are trees are bent, twisted, jagged branches stark against the grey clouds. Smoke rises in the distance.

“What happened,” he breathes, standing up fully. The wasteland he’s arrived in is a bleak contrast to Maddie’s world of golden light. What could possibly have happened here?

Kai drops the no longer lit lantern and heads towards a nearby pile of what looks like junk. It creaks and crumbles under his hands as he climbs up, intending to get a good look at his surroundings. 

The world is barren. The air is dusty and dry. Kai coughs, ducking his head instinctively, and that’s when he sees it, lying on the ground. Twisted, misshapen, but undoubtedly a body.

Despite his mounting horror he climbs down, slip-sliding down the slope. The face looks more and more familiar the closer he gets. Something glitters faintly. Kai jumps off, strides forwards and -

It’s him.

No doubt about it. Kai recognizes his own face - the mole on his chin, the scar behind his ear, the slightly crooked nose he knows is mirrored on himself. He drops onto his knees, palms flat against his thighs.

Is this what happens? Is this their future? Is this his future?

No way. This can’t happen - but here he is, standing in the middle of a barren wasteland that feels too real to be anything but. 

As if bid by some strange force, Kai reaches forwards to grasp the glittering thing - it’s sharp and cuts into his palm - and the world melts away, spirals dizziyingly around him in a blurred mess of brown and grey and this time he’s grateful. 

He lands on his knees in a hall of mirrors, surrounded by perfect copies of himself. Kai stands, takes a deep breath of synthetic but thankfully clean air, and opens his palm. The shiny thing lies there, innocent. A drop of blood rolls off his hand.

It’s a jagged bit of iron, he notes, tucking it into his pocket. Who knows. With how strange this has been, maybe it could be useful.

Walking in this hall feels very different from the carnival mirror halls he’s been too. It’s unnaturally silent, just him and his footsteps. His reflections move in perfect, unnerving synchrony with him.

It’s a hall of mirrors, he chides himself. Of course they’re going to move with you.

Kai tilts his head to the ceiling, hoping there will be some sign or something pointing to an exit. It’s even more mirrors, his own face staring back down at him. The experience feels oddly surreal and he wants to laugh. He misses the gold.

Wherever he turns, more mirrors greet him and it’s a little frustrating. Kai’s starting to get thirsty and hungry. There’s got to be a way out somewhere. Every place has an exit and if you can’t see one, make one.

Make one.

Kai walks up to a random mirror and touches the glass. Nothing happens. It’s just regular, smooth glass.

Just regular glass.

Alright, he thinks to himself. Time for those years of Judo to get put to work. Kai steps back, takes a deep breath, and kicks, aiming for the mirror.

The glass breaks, shards flying (thankfully) away from him. Several embed themself into Kai’s shoe and he pulls them out, dropping them on the floor with a tinkling sound. The hole leads out into a lit white hallway, like a hospital.

Great. Even more walking.

He’s not getting anywhere by doing nothing, so Kai steps through the hole and strides down the hallway. At least it’s lit. The sterility of the walls and floor do nothing for how eerie it feels, though.

At the end of the hallway there’s a door, dark brown with a gold handle. It should be a relief but Kai just feels more unnerved, staring at the handle. There’s something in there. Either good or bad, he doesn’t know.

He just needs to get out.

Carefully, he grasps the door handle, cool metal against his skin. Kai twists and pulls the door open, just a little bit.

The room is lit with a green light and another boy is standing there, head bowed. Kai almost pulls the door wider, intending to step in and ask for help when suddenly the boy screams.

His back arches, tubes tearing their way out with a ripping sound and Kai is standing there, frozen in place as this boy/creature starts transforming. He watches, horrified, as the boy starts to float, contorting in ways that would definitely break bones as more and more tubes sprout out of his back.

He needs to get out of here but his feet refuse to obey, practically superglued to the floor. He shouldn’t be watching but here he is, he thinks bitterly, stuck in this half dream half real world watching some guy get transformed into some sort of monster in a green room.

The boy floats back down, untwisting, head bowed. Kai hesitantly takes a step back.

Maybe the boy hears him. Maybe the boy just sees the door ajar. Any number of things could have happened but it doesn’t matter because the boy is staring right at him, eyes unnaturally wide.

Run! his brain yells, finally finally catching up to the situation and Kai bolts, sprinting down the hallway. There’s a crashing sound behind him and he speeds up, adrenaline pumping through his veins. The hallway doesn’t seem to end why doesn’t it end.

Something brushes his back and Kai speeds up, throws himself forwards. He rolls through the hole he’d made (when had that appeared?) and lands in the mirror room. A moment later, the creature bursts through the hole, lunging for him and Kai panics.

He doesn’t know where the idea comes from, but he throws himself backwards, bracing for the pain of glass shards in his back. His hands flail around uselessly, grabbing onto some bit of metal and then he’s falling, deeper and deeper

and deeper

and deeper

and deeper

and deeper

and Kai falls onto something soft.

He rubs his tailbone - it’s definitely bruised at this point - and looks around, praying he’s not in a wasteland or some other hellscape.

To his surprise, he’s surrounded by wildflowers.

Kai reaches out and hesitantly touches one. The petals feel soft against his fingers. 

He doesn’t warp to some other place, no monster leaps out, the earth beneath him doesn’t explode and Kai slumps back, closing his eyes in sheer relief. He’s not sure where he is, but it’s a lot better than where he was, that’s for sure.

Kai finally opens his eyes and nearly screams.

Because he isn’t looking at the normal blue sky or any normal seeming sky at all. He’s looking directly at what looks to be the void. Purple petals are falling down slowly, like snow.

He scrambles to his feet and walks to the edge of the field of wildflowers, looking down. Pure darkness looks back at him and Kai takes a step back, swallowing. Not so beautiful after all.

Still, at least he doesn’t have to worry about dying.

Kai heads back to safer ground, brushing petals off his jacket and dropping the bit of metal he’d grasped in one hand. He leans down and picks it up, inspecting it. It looks kind of similar to the other bit.

Huh.

Kai slips it into his pocket, hearing it clink against his other piece of metal and starts forwards in a random direction. It seems to be wildflowers all around, but then he notices something in the distance. A curved figure.

He frowns, narrows his eyes. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything and Kai heads closer slowly. At this distance, he can’t quite make out what the figure is.

Kai walks across a puddle of purple paint (paint?), wincing as it stains his shoes. Those were… not nice, but okay shoes, too. The figure is clearly sitting on a chair, surrounded by a pool of paint. Kai steps around the pool, ready to speak, and then nearly screams.

The figure - no, the person - is sitting on a throne, eyes closed. Flowers grow on their head and over their body, like some sort of headdress, but that’s not what Kai cares about. Paint covers the person’s throat and chest, dripping slowly onto the chair, and he’s not too sure but that has to be blood.

He’s standing in front of a dead body.

Somehow, even with this knowledge, the scene doesn’t feel horrific. The person looks to be asleep, would have been that way if not for the purple slashes across their throat and chest. Flowers grow across their body, a twisted symbol of beauty. It’s almost artistic, somehow. Kai frowns, tilting his head to get a closer look at the crown on their head. There is, strangely enough, some sort of jagged hole there.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the bits of metal. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it feels like they would fit. Only… he’d have to walk through the paint.

Sorry, shoes.

Kai steps carefully through the paint (determinedly ignoring how it’s definitely blood) and reaches forwards, slotting the bits of metal into the crown. He brushes a petal off of the person’s head and waits.

Nothing… happens.

Huh.

He’d thought that would do something. Oh well. 

Kai turns back, intending to get out of the paint and explore further, and that’s when he sees it. A white door, right in front of him.

Should he?

Hesitantly, Kai cracks open the door and peers inside. There seems to be nothing there, just a white expanse.

He could keep exploring the field of flowers. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more dead bodies… 

or, he could walk through the door and hope it led him home.

Kai pulls the door open further and steps through.


End file.
